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The historic North Texas drought continues to affect area lake levels. This fish was found at a spot in Lake Arrowhead Monday, Nov. 17, 2014

AUSTIN–Dallas-Fort Worth water planners are asking for nearly $1.8 billion from the state’s newly created water bank for projects including construction of Lake Ralph Hall in Fannin County and an estimated $2.3 billion, 149-mile pipeline to move water from East Texas.

Amid concerns over drought and future water needs, voters in 2013 approved using $2 billion from the state’s so-called rainy day fund for water projects.

The Texas Water Development Board plans to allocate $800 million to projects this year, according to a board press release. That’s far shy of the $5.5 billion requested during the first application period, which closed this week. With oversight from lawmakers, water board officials will begin prioritizing projects and plan to cut checks as early as fall.

Based on prioritization rules approved last year, conservation projects proposed in the DFW are likely to top the list. That includes infrastructural changes in Fort Worth such as automated leak detection and the replacement of old meters.

The City of Dallas Water Utility wants $140 million for a pipeline project that would deliver water from Lake Palestine, 100 miles southeast of Dallas, to DFW customers. According to the project application, Dallas customers would contribute $334 million.

Officials in Flower Mound have long opposed the proposed 12,000-acre reservoir named Lake Ralph Hall over fears water bills will soar to pay for the debt. The project has also drawn the ire of environmentalists who have concerns over the lakes affect on wildlife and agriculture. Supporters say it would help address future water needs.

UPDATE at 4:33 p.m.: With loud applause and a standing ovation, the House approved forming a water loan fund to help pay for projects in the state water plan.

Green voting lights nearly covered the House voting board as the chamber gave preliminary approval to House Bill 4, then final approval a few minutes later with a vote of 146-2. Separate legislation later is expected to place $2 billion into the account from the Rainy Day Fund.

UPDATE at 1:21 p.m.: The House rejected an attempt by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, to make the water legislation’s 20 percent commitment to conservation optional, instead of mandatory. House members voted 104-41 to table King’s proposal.

Defenders of the water fund legislation as it was written said it was the result of much negotiation and that keeping the 20 percent conservation and reuse goal shows the Legislature’s seriousness about relying on conservation as a water resource.

UPDATE at 12:43 p.m.: The Texas House began debating historic water legislation Wednesday afternoon to create a $2 billion revolving loan fund to help pay for projects in the state water plan.

“It is one of our core constitutional duties,” Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, told lawmakers. “It’s time for the Legislature to step up and fully implement the water plan.”

If Texas doesn’t act, the state could be nearly three trillion gallons short of the water it needs by 2060 because of population growth and shrinking supplies, Ritter said.

The House is debating about three dozen proposed amendments to the bill, which would create the State Water Implementation Fund. A separate piece of legislation would place $2 billion from the Rainy Day fund into the loan account as one-time seed money.

UPDATE at 11:08 a.m: Before the House began debate on the big water funding bill, the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation issued a statement Wednesday questioning the percentage of the loan fund proposed to go toward conservation and said money for the account shouldn’t come from the state’s Rainy Day fund.

TPPF executive director Arlene Wohlgemuth said “it’s problematic that a full 20 percent of the funds that may be dedicated to this plan are earmarked for environmental education and conservation, neither of which is guaranteed to expand the available supply of water in Texas.”

Any money placed in the fund, she added, should not be from the Rainy Day fund and should be within Texas’ spending cap.

ORIGINAL ITEM: Legislation to create a $2 billion water loan fund goes before the Texas House on Wednesday as lawmakers move toward helping to pay for local projects in the state water plan.

Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, proposed House Bill 4 creating the State Water Implementation Fund, which would lend money for locally requested projects. A one-time deposit of $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day fund would supply the account. That money used with $6 billion in water bond money already approved by voters is expected to generate an estimated $27 billion in state financing.

After years of not funding the state water plan _ a document that looks at Texas’ water needs 50 years into the future _ legislative leaders appear ready to take action this session in light of the state’s worst one-year drought on record in 2011.

Under Ritter’s legislation, 20 percent of the funding would have to be used for water conservation and reuse. A Senate version calls for only 10 percent to go toward conservation and reuse.

Business leaders, local governments and some environmental groups back the legislation.

Texas has received only 68 percent of its normal rainfall the past two years, and if ongoing dry weather persists through the summer this could become the second worst drought in state history, the state climatologist said Tuesday.

“No corner of the state has been spared dry conditions,” state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, a professor at Texas A&M University, told a joint meeting of the House and Senate natural resources committees. The Legislature is embarking on proposals to fund the state’s water plan, which looks at water needs in times of intense drought.

The drought of 1950-57 remains the longest Texas drought on record, Nielsen-Gammon said, and the second-worst drought in intensity was from 1915-18. He said there’s no way to know how long the current drought will last. He explained some parallels between today’s climate conditions and how the drought of the 1950s started.

Committee members also heard from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which is seeing more permit applications for reuse of wastewater, said L’Oreal Stepney, deputy director of the commission’s water office.

“It’s becoming the new thing,” Stepney said. Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, predicted water reuse “is going to be a very active issue.”